500-year half-life? Yep.
>I'd be a little sceptical about the claimed half-life.
I'd rather look at the evidence myself - and an internet search isn't that bothersome, is it? A half life of 500 years has been observed in the DNA from bones of Moa, extinct birds, dating from between 600 to 8,000 years, preserved in similar conditions.
- http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/32799/title/Half-Life-of-DNA-Revealed/
Were this DNA archival process ever to be used, there is no reason why the archive couldn't be based somewhere cold - much like the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault#Construction )
Then of course error correction methods and redundancy can be built into any DNA-archival process.
You mutations you mention are those seen in living cells, and usually occur during the copying stage (and yeah, our cells have several error-correcting mechanisms) - but this is very different to these inert strands of DNA that have been removed from the molecular machinery.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
